Ben-Gvir blasts Bono after U2 singer likened him to Nazi who planned the Holocaust

Israel’s national security minister excoriates U2 frontman Bono after the singer compared the minister to the architect of the Nazi Holocaust.

By World Israel News Staff

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir hit back at U2 frontman Bono on Tuesday after the singer compared the Israeli minister’s rhetoric about Gaza to that of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler in a new Rolling Stone interview addressing Israel, Hamas, Judaism and the war.

Bono made the comments in Rolling Stone’s new cover story on U2, published Tuesday as the band prepares to release its first full album of new material in nine years.

The discussion of Israel arose as Bono explained the background to “The Tears of Things,” a song that explores Jewish history and the conflict in Gaza through a religious and historical lens.

Bono told Rolling Stone the song was an attempt to understand the current moment in a world where “we never needed the moral force of Judaism more than now.”

He also unequivocally condemned Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, describing it as “an unholy offense.”

But Bono reserved particularly sharp criticism for Ben-Gvir, taking aim at statements attributed to the national security minister about Palestinians in Gaza and comparing the rhetoric to that of Heinrich Himmler, the SS chief who played a central role in organizing the Holocaust.

Bono said his criticism came from the perspective of someone who has historically supported Israel while also believing the Palestinians should have a state of their own.

He questioned why Ben-Gvir remained a minister and criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for relying on him to maintain his governing majority.

Bono then connected his criticism of the Israeli government to his personal relationship with Jewish culture, saying many of the people who had shaped his thinking, music and worldview were Jewish.

He accused Ben-Gvir of casting a shadow over that tradition, calling the situation “just outrageous.”

The U2 singer also argued that Israel needed to address the historical consequences of what Palestinians call the Nakba through political compromise and concluded: “Justice is at the heart of Judaism.”

The remarks drew a furious response from Ben-Gvir later Tuesday.

“There is no limit to the hypocrisy of terror supporters around the world,” Ben-Gvir said.

He accused Bono of directing the Nazi comparison at an Israeli minister attempting to protect Jews rather than at Hamas terrorists responsible for the October 7 massacre.

Ben-Gvir said Jews had finished apologizing for defending their lives and argued that he preferred international criticism directed at living Jews to sympathy expressed after Jews were murdered.

The Israeli minister then turned the dispute toward Bono’s home country.

“If you truly care about Gaza residents, help them leave for Ireland,” Ben-Gvir said.

He argued that Palestinians in Gaza were seeking opportunities to emigrate and suggested they could find a future in Ireland, whose government has emerged as one of Israel’s fiercest European critics during the war.

The exchange marks the latest escalation in Bono’s increasingly outspoken criticism of Israel’s government.

Immediately following the October 7 massacre, Bono altered the lyrics of U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love)” during a performance at the Sphere in Las Vegas to honor those murdered at the Nova music festival.

But his public criticism of Netanyahu’s government became considerably sharper as the war continued.